After shooting the rapids of downtown’s Friday night to get to the Sundresses’ affair (in which I played the part of the kayak), it was my fervent hope that the skies would clear and remain free of precipitation for MidPoint’s final slate of shows on Saturday. It certainly looked good at 7:30 p.m. as I sat in the car going over my schedule before hitting the sidewalk. Who knew then that the metaphorical storm clouds generated by Cadillac Ranch would be bigger than the literal batch that Mother Nature whipped up for us midway to the end of MidPoint?

So you’ve just moved into your nice new home. You’ve unloaded the boxes, unpacked most of your stuff and are just starting to settle into your residence.

Right now is the perfect time to walk through a checklist of ways to save money on your home. Starting on these things as early as possible will allow you to start saving money sooner rather than later.

Thirty-two-year-old shot by police in Clifton was mild-mannered, acquaintances say

Who was
Roger Ramundo?

First of
all, those who knew him called him by his middle name, Jeremy. On Wednesday, July
24, Jeremy was shot and killed by a Cincinnati Police Officer in what the CPD
is describing as a violent, “life or death struggle,” with a mentally ill,
violent and heavily armed man. Those who knew Roger Jeremy Ramundo, however,
remember him very differently.

Thirty-two-year-old
Jeremy lived in a Clifton gaslight home with his mother, Peggy, and he liked to
eat on the patio at neighborhood bar Arlin’s Bar and Grill, the same place
where he lost his life in a struggle with police just blocks away from his
home.

An
acquaintance of the family, who asked to remain unnamed, described Ramundo as a
gentle, bright and mild-mannered young man with good social skills.

Ramundo formerly
worked up the street at Bruegger’s Bagels, where current CityBeat arts & culture editor Jac Kern worked with him from
2007-2008. “I always knew him to be a kind, gentle person,” she says, recalling
his fondness for discussing politics and attentive listening skills.

According
to Kern, Ramundo was in a car accident years before that left him with
debilitating vision and hearing problems. He had also been diagnosed with
bipolar disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, both of which he’d been
prescribed medications for.

But nobody,
it seemed, suspected he’d be the type of person to be involved in a deadly
police shootout. The Cincinnati Police Department today held a press conference
on the incident, during which Cincinnati Police Interim Chief Paul Humphries described
the actions of the five officers involved in the shootout as by-the-book, even
heroic.

What Humphries
accounts began as an argument between Ramundo his mother at their home on
Thrall Avenue, a few blocks from Arlin’s, which escalated shortly after Ramundo
refused to go to his doctor’s appointment, according to a 911 call made by a
health care representative from the medical facility where Ramundo’s
appointment was scheduled. According to the health care representative, Ramundo’s
mother called her looking for help, explaining he’d become belligerent
following her requests to go to his appointment. She said he had been willfully
not taking his psychiatric medications, although it’s unclear for how long.

In the 911
call, the health care representative says Peggy told her Ramundo had begun
threatening her, saying that if she called the cops, there would be a
“bloodbath.” She saw him take off up Ludlow Avenue and said on the phone call
she believed he was carrying his registered gun, a Sig Sauer .40 caliber pistol,
and guessed he might be on his way to his go-to hangout spot.

Officers Jayne
Snelling and William Springer followed the mother’s tip and found him sitting on
the back patio at Arlin’s.

An Arlin’s
bartender named Jocelyn was working that day and recalls Ramundo coming in
somewhat agitated. “He was asking about his glasses,” she says. “He seemed
frustrated about losing them, and he had me call another bartender to see if
they were here somewhere. After that, he asked for a glass of water, walked
outside and that was that."

Jocelyn
continued: “I’m in total shock. He was just a sweet kid,” she said, although
she couldn’t remember seeing him in the bar for about three months prior.

In total, five
CPD officers were dispatched to the scene, two of whom have had past positive
experiences with Ramundo, including Officer Snelling and Officer Bryan Gabel,
who later fired the shots that killed him.

The
physical struggle began after peace-making efforts failed, Humphries says.
Officers reported they saw Ramundo reaching toward his waistband, where he held
his pistol.

Gabel was the first to make physical contact with Ramundo, trying to “control
his arm,” according to Humphries. That led the other officers to become
involved in a scuffle that shortly thereafter prompted Officer Kelly Jackson to
deploy a five-second Taser sting to Ramundo’s back, which they say sent Ramundo
to the ground.

Jackson
again deployed her Taser onto Ramundo’s back, which, according to Humphries,
had little to no effect after the initial five-second deploy. On a third
attempt, the Taser failed to work, according to Humphries, at which point
Jackson signaled another officer to deploy another Taser.

Snelling
attempted to do so, but mistakenly Tased another officer in the struggle, who
was on top of Ramundo’s back.Gabel allegedly saw Ramundo raise his gun, when he fired his first and
only
shot. Officer Reginald Lane had taken the Tased officer's spot on top of
Ramundo, attempting to subdue him and retrieve his gun. That's when
Humphries says all five officers saw him trying to bring the gun up
again, this time aimed toward the officers.

Gabel fired
two shots into Ramundo’s lower left back. He died in the hospital three hours later.

Humphries
says Ramundo was also carrying two magazines, mace and a folding knife.

His mother,
the acquaintance says, is an outspoken advocate on mental health issues,
particularly Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), on which she’s published a book.
Peggy “always spoke preciously” of Jeremy, the acquaintance notes.

Bipolar
disorder, when untreated, can cause those affected to experience “mood
episodes,” which, in severe cases, sometimes result in impulsive, violent
behavior. An estimated 2.3 million Americans suffer from bipolar disorder.

Never one to mince words or hold back his opinions, Gore Vidal says he regrets voting for President Barack Obama last year and calls Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, "the stupidest man in the country" in a wide-ranging interview with The Times of London.

Rising Country star plays Bogart's Friday

Hunter Hayes is one of the fastest growing, most unstoppable forces rising in Country music. At just 20 years old, he recently released his debut self-titled studio album featuring the hit single “Storm Warning." In less than a year of truly being a part of the Nashville music scene he has found himself on tour with superstar acts Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts and he will be taking the main stage at the CMA Music Festival next month in one of their nightly concerts in front of 70,000+ in attendance.

CityBeat spoke with Hayes by phone recently and discussed his uniquely introspective writing and recording process as well as his passion for the fans that come out to each of his shows. Hunter will be performing at Bogart’s Friday night. It's a great opportunity to see an act that could be headlining stadiums and arenas very soon.

CityBeat: What made you decide to play all of the instruments and parts on your debut album? Do you plan to do this again on the next album?

Hunter Hayes: There is this part of my brain that I got from my Dad that is really technical, that loves technology, I guess, like fixing stuff — not fixing stuff as much as messing with it. I think that became an outlet for me. The more time I spent making music and writing the more I loved the technical side of it.

One Christmas, I asked for a 8-Track recorder and I got it and I didn’t come out of my room for like three years after that. I literally learned more instruments and spent all my time on this machine making demos and I just started building my own recordings. I didn’t know for sure but I felt inside that was the only way these songs were going to become completed and it became a way of working.

I continue to write during that process. When I moved to Nashville, I started songwriting and every time I would write a song with somebody I’d go home that night and I’d start working up a demo. It just became a way I love to work and now is the only way I know how to work. I have sat in a studio across the looking glass with some of the most phenomenal musicians in Nashville and I sit there and I am a very shy guy, naturally. I am naturally very reclusive so when I get nervous around songwriters, I am very intimidated and I don’t share my thoughts a lot like I probably should. I kind of defer to someone else. So we decided to do the record this way because they knew I was comfortable working that way and there is something cool that happens when you start recording the song playing all the instruments. It is a very minute thing but you will notice the consistency in the emotion.

And by no means do I consider myself a professional player of any of the instruments I played on the record but I guess I was fluent enough to get where my mind wanted these songs to go with what I wanted to hear for these songs. I was able to translate it from the same heart I wrote the songs.

CB: What is your favorite song you have ever written and why?

HH: Oh God … to put it in perspective for you, we had 70 songs I wrote specifically for this record that we were considering. So, it is nearly impossible to pick a favorite.

I have to say I was really fortunate because I had a big say in what songs went on this record. I actually picked all but one. This one song on the record, it is not that I don’t love it, but it is so out of character for me, I was worried about putting it on the record because I didn’t want people to get the wrong idea, because it is a very bitter song.

I chose the songs on this record carefully but emotionally. I am definitely attached to every single one of them on this record. I could say that I love everything — “Wanted” “Love Makes Me” “Somebody’s Heartbreak” and “Storm Warning.” I was very adamant about having a song like “Faith,” I wanted “Cry With You” on the record. I’m close to all the songs on the record.

I think my favorite song I have ever written is probably the one I wrote yesterday and that is always the case. Any time I write a new song, I am jazzed about it for like 24 hours and then I am over it and want to write another one.

CB: That makes sense. How does it feel to be one of the main acts at LP Field at CMA Festival this year?

HH: It’s unbelievable. Last year, I was stoked to just play on a stage in front of the Bridgestone Arena. It was a great turnout and everybody knew my name, which was amazing. I had just wrapped up six weeks on the radio tour. The song had literally just started playing on the radio and there were already tons of people singing along to “Storm Warning” that day and that blew my mind. It was a time lapse thing. I started my radio tour with this big full band showcase in Louisiana. And we initiated it with this full band big showcase for all the industry to come down and make a day out of it.

Then I went out by myself on this radio tour. I would go to these stations. I would literally bring a little mobile studio and I would build “Storm Warning” for them, and they would get their own version of “Storm Warning” by the end of the day. We did that for six weeks straight. I went home only one day, for Mother’s Day. It was just this crazy schedule.

Fast forward six weeks ahead, I come back to Nashville to play my second ever full-band gig with the band and we were playing to a crowd that was singing along to almost every song. It was really impressive and it was just mind-boggling. It is amazing what a year can do.

I am grateful that they considered me for this spot on LP Field. I have sat in the audience to watch shows there many times so it is really cool to be a part of it this time on the other side.

CB: I have seen your show several times. One of the things that always strikes me when you play is that the girls love you. Have you had any crazy fan experiences?

HH: No, not really. I will say we have a lot of fans that we see many times, a lot of repeat fans, which always makes me feel good. When someone sees a show and wants to see another one, that makes me feel like I am doing something right.

It is so funny, they will come up during the autograph signings and say “I promise you I am not stalking you.” I am like “I don’t mind! I am honored that you have taken the time to come to more than one show.” There is this one girl who has driven thousands of miles and she is always almost apologetic about it, and you don’t even know how much that makes my day. When I see her car in the parking lot and I know she is coming, that makes me feel like I am doing something right. It literally gives me a feeling I can’t describe to you.

We have a lot of fans that are doing that. We have a lot of them who have met at our shows and have become best friends and they go everywhere together now. I just feel this unity at our shows, especially the "Most Wanted" shows, the headlining shows I get to do. They are smaller venues right now and they are growing. Tonight we are doing like 1,000 seats or something like that, but it is amazing this close feeling I feel with everyone in the room. I get to chit-chat with them during the show and goof off with them and it is fun. It is a blast. I am glad to say I have fans.

Today I was zooming around the Internet trying to figure out what to write my blog about. I decided to visit the CityBeat Staff Blogs, which you are reading now, to try and vote again for my own blog. I really needed to bring my stars back up to five after seeing a dismal 2.5 standing for the ER Finale (MAYBE IF SOMEONE WOULD HAVE POSTED IT ON TIME, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN RELEVANT). When I went to click the button for five more big stars I noticed that I couldn’t rate the blogs for a second time. After clicking the stars a little message pops up that says, “You already vote.”

When I decided to go to the University of Oregon for graduate school in 2005 I was like, “Those hippies are going to be bummed when I remind them of the UC basketball team beating down the No. 5 Ducks in 2002.” (There were also feelings of, “Goddang UC givin’ me an English degree that ain’t worth nuthin’…”)

But before I could even get out there and wear my Jason Maxiell jersey on Oregon’s lovely campus (those dudes have about 1,284 bike racks, for reals), Bob Huggins had been let go and my confidence in UC’s 2007 National Championship plans (the pending recruiting class was going to be ridiculous) were shattered. Even worse, this scary guy named Ivan Johnson backed out of his commitment to UC, and guess what school he went to? Freakin Oregon.

There are plenty of restaurants downtown, but for the World Choir Games, the city has set up a Market Garden at the corner of Fifth and Race streets to provide additional options that are fast and affordable. It’s a great “Taste of Cincinnati” opportunity — without the crowds and long lines.